The presentation of the books “History of 20th Century Azerbaijani Literature” (in 3 volumes), “Memory of Time: Literary Discourses” (Selected Articles), “Mission of a Lifetime” and “Rabindranath Tagore: The Path to Nobel” (in English) by Professor Badirkhan Ahmadli, head of the Department of Azerbaijani-Asian Literary Relations of the Nizami Ganjavi Institute of Literature, was held at the Central Scientific Library of ANAS.
Opening the event the President of ANAS, Director of the Institute of Literature, Academician Isa Habibbeyli spoke about the life and work of Professor Badirkhan Ahmadli, his multifaceted scientific activity, and his contributions to the science of Azerbaijani literary criticism. He noted that Professor Badirkhan Ahmadli is the author of significant works aimed at the gradual and systematic study of Azerbaijani literature of the 20th century. He is a talented scientist who diligently researches the literary heritage of the Turkic-speaking peoples, along with Azerbaijan, for about one hundred and fifty years, makes excellent scientific and theoretical analyses, and manages to transcend the boundaries of the all-Turkic scientific environment with his research on the history and literature of these peoples.
Academician Isa Habibbeyli characterized Professor Badirkhan Ahmadli as a satirist and noted that his work extensively analyzed the main directions and problems of Azerbaijani satirical literature. He noted that the scientist was able to evaluate both the historical roots of Azerbaijani satire and its stages and periods of development in the 20th century at a high scientific-theoretical level. He reflected a complete picture of the satire genre, its entire development path and main problems in his works.
The President of ANAS also mentioned the monograph “Azerbaijani Literature of the 20th Century: Stages, Directions, Problems” by Professor Badirkhan Ahmadli, who is also engaged in the issue of periodization of Azerbaijani literature, and noted that this work expresses a scientific, theoretical, conceptual view of the literary process of the century, the classification of stages and problems. He emphasized that one of the unique features of the scientist’s work is his study of our national ideology, the history of national democratic development, our national ideology, our national literature and the press at the beginning of the 20th century.
Academician Isa Habibbeyli, who particularly noted Badirkhan Ahmadli's research on Asian literature, said that he is the most active researcher of Asian literature and currently heads the Department of Azerbaijani-Asian Literary Relations of the Institute of Literature named after Nizami Ganjavi of ANAS. The head of ANAS said that under the leadership of the scientist, research is being conducted in the department on Chinese, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, Mongolian, Afghan, and Indian literature, books on literary relations between Azerbaijan and Asian countries are being prepared, and dissertations are being written.
Academician Isa Habibbeyli noted the scientific importance of Professor Badirkhan Ahmadli's works, which are the result of many years of great work and fruitful searches, and evaluated the presentation of the books as the scientist's next report to the Azerbaijani society.
He recalled that by the decision of the Presidium of ANAS dated March 19, 2025, Professor Badirkhan Ahmadli was awarded the Honorary Decree of ANAS on the occasion of his fruitful scientific activity and 70th anniversary, and presented the Honorary Decree of ANAS to the scientist.
Then, Professor Asif Rustamli, head of the Department of 20th Century (Soviet Period) Azerbaijani Literature of the Institute of Literature, delivered a report entitled “Portrait Sketches of the Life of Badirkhan Ahmadli as a Literary Scholar”.
The speaker noted that the outstanding literary scholar and critic Badirkhan Ahmadli, who served science and education for more than 40 years of his life, is one of our scientists who, with his rich creativity, built a bridge between our republic and foreign countries. Professor Badirkhan Ahmadli has gone through a difficult and rich creative path. In 1986, he defended his candidate's dissertation on the topic "Sabit Rahman's Satire" and in 2005, he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "Development Problems of Azerbaijani Satire (1920-1980s)".
